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5/12/11

Tissue Paper Flowers

I made this layout for one of Scrapbook.com's National Scrapbook Day challenges.

The assignment was to watch this video about creating a distressed paper flower using a Gluber, make one of your own, then use the finished flower on a layout. The distressed look is not my style and I don't own Glubers, so I made my own version of the flower.

I decided to use tissue paper instead of regular patterned paper, as I wanted a fluffier, softer look. I cut pink tissue paper into strips. Then I punched a circle out of plain white cardstock and used a tape runner to cover one side of it with adhesive. Using one strip of tissue paper, I placed the end onto the outer edge of the circle. I folded it back over itself to pleat it, turning as I continued.

When I completed the circle, I cut off the extra tissue paper and tucked the exposed end underneath the previous pleat to hide it.

I carefully applied more adhesive over the center, took a second strip of tissue paper, and repeated the process. This time I kept the tissue paper in the center instead of out by the edge. When that was done, I added more adhesive and took a third strip of tissue paper to make one more small circle in the center. I only had 8 pleats that time.

I poked a hole in the center to experiment with using brads for my flower center. I couldn't find one that I liked, so I changed the plan. I punched a small circle, spread glue all over it, and carefully smoothed a piece of tissue paper over it. I put glue on the back and folded the extra tissue paper under to make clean edges. Finally, I spread a thin layer of Stickles on the front. Since the layout had to be done, scanned, stitched, uploaded, and linked within 2 hours, I had absolutely no time to let the Stickles dry, so I went straight to my hairdryer. I used a pair of tweezers to hold it steady while blasting it on the high setting. When it was dry, I attached it to the center of my flower.

I threw my layout together and added the flower. It looked really good, but the layout needed a little something more. I had a few minutes left, so I started one more flower. I only did the two outer layers, then I sliced the whole thing in half with the paper cutter. I tucked the flower halves under the edges of the black paper. The unfinished center isn't visible. Notice that the three flowers form a visual triangle on the layout.

These flowers were so fun and easy! I can definitely imagine making these to decorate the fronts of cards and gift bags, perfectly coordinated with the tissue paper inside.